The invention is related to obtaining the information that will help to identify and enable the best communication mode (visit, mail, phone, fax, etc.) between people at different locations, such as different offices.
In real-time, if a person would like to contact somebody in the same building but in a different office, there are several options. The person may telephorie the person they are trying to reach, send them an e-mail, send them an xe2x80x9cinstantxe2x80x9d message, or, simply go to their office. Often-times, a problem results because the person in the office may be busy: on the phone, meeting with somebody in the office, or away at a meeting. There are certain methods that can assist in determining what the person is doing and whether they are busy or not. Programs like lotus notes-calendar allow for somebody to check the status of somebody else""s schedule. This information does not suffice because it only describes meetings and appointments and a person may be busy doing other things in between meetings and appointments, like, telephone calls. Therefore, people who would like to contact another person must figure out the best way in which to reach that person. As noted, they may go to the person""s office, call them, or, send an e-mail. But, the person in the office may be busy in a meeting, on the telephone or not returning e-mails because of being so backed up.
A principal object of the present invention is to enable a user to have complete information so that he may select the best communication mode for reaching other people (mail, visit office, fax, phone, etc.). Another object of the invention is to achieve the capability that will permit the user to understand whether a person in an office is available and is disposed for a meeting or other modes of communication.
The present invention involves a system that gives a complete list and description on the computer of a person""s whereabouts and activities in a certain area. For instance, in a building the computer gives the full information about whether a person is talking on the telephone, or whether the person checked their phone messages recently. It also gives full information about e-mail and whether the person has recently checked e-mail or is presently checking the e-mail. Most importantly, it gives a present status of the person in the office: does the person have a visitor, is the person at a meeting, is the person eating lunch, or is the person taking a nap.
Information about a person""s office status can be identified through a video camera and other sensors. This information may be about how long a person is in the office and what type of situation the person is in. The information from the camera or other video sensors is sent to a special computer that analyzes the images and recognizes the situation and status of the person: is the person asleep, talking on the phone, relaxed. Some programs have been developed that can even figure out what type of mood a certain person may be in. See the patent application entitled xe2x80x9cConversational Data Miningxe2x80x9d filed on Aug. 10, 1999. Therefore, this program may also let a user know what type of mood the other person is in and this may affect whether or not they choose to visit/contact the person. An option may be existent already, if a person desires privacy, he may choose to disclose none, for only a limited amount of information about his status.